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Sunday, September 16, 2012

My life as a spiritual being

I would just like to open this post by saying that Civilization V is the devil. It is the enemy of all productivity. Now, back to our irregularly scheduled post.

I have mentioned before that at the heart of these posts is a belief that there is a spiritual dimension to existence and that we are spiritual beings. But I have come to the conclusion that whether that is true or not has very little bearing on how I live my life.

That is not to say spirituality isn't important to me. If that were the case, I wouldn't be contributing to this blog. I would say my spirituality is one of the most important things in my life.

This is a challenging post. Can you tell? So many parts of the whole, and they all fit together so nicely in my head. Then I take it into my head to write about it, and it comes out in sputtering fragments. All right, let's see if I can put all this together for you.

Perhaps some chronology will help. Some of you may recall that for a long time I was an atheist/agnostic (I'm aware of the distinction between the two, but my particular state of mind at the time was prone to variation). In that time I had given myself all the usual arguments against spirituality - lack of evidence, lack of relevance, you name it. Yet despite the fact that I had convinced myself to follow that path, I found myself seeking out people with a spiritual perspective. With the exception of the people closest to me, I tried to be very gentle and respectful, but I was very interested in what "made them tick."

I eventually realized that I was looking for something to bring me over to their point of view. I was looking for something in their spiritual perspectives that was so compelling I would have to accept it. I was looking for it so persistently because something in me knew that spirituality was part of who I am. That was the compelling realization I needed. I just needed to realize that I was a spiritual being, and then I could give myself permission to accept myself as one.

I won't pretend that that realization didn't carry some upheaval with it. But when the dust had cleared I noticed that not much about me had changed. I still lived my life according to the same ethical standards I had tried to live by previously. I still held largely the same world view. It had gained a new dimension for me. I was more whole, and I could interact with my world with more grace - for the most part.

I believe I am writing this so you can all have a clear idea of my intentions. I do not claim to have any particularly astounding insight. I simply want to share a perspective that I have found especially healing and liberating. I hope your journey has contained such experiences as well.